Dreams of a Lifetime
by Scorpio's-Assassin
Summary: Sasori reminiscents. One-shot. Tribute to Sasori for his birthday, today, November 8th.


**This is a tribute to Sasori for his birthday, 8 November. Please read and review. Deidara gets credit for being my beta. **

**Sasori: Hmph. If it's not good I shall make you into a puppet.**

* * *

I lay on the hospital bed. Medics rush around me. I vaguely hear their cries to stabilize my heart rate.

I don't care. My life is about to end anyway. They would probably interrogate me after this. Everything seems fuzzy, slow. I drift in and out of consciousness. I lull about, not even making an effort to regain my awareness. What was the point? My eternal art, all gone. In the end, I still had that moment of weakness. My emotions. I still had them, after all.

Suddenly, I can hear a faint, ever so faint beat. Odd that I can hear this, but not the insistent chatter of medics.

They say that you remember every single thing you did, in those split seconds before you die. Yes. This is the music of my life.

The rhythm picks up.

I can hear the cries of a baby. Then, I was a normal baby boy, born to two Suna ninja who loved each other. I had a bright future, with parents, grandparents and soon-to-be friends who loved me.

All of a sudden, the music briefly stops. Chiyo's shock at my parents' death. So sudden, and so shattering. She is heartbroken and angry. She decides that when an old hag like herself was this torn, what about Sasori, her young grandson? So she keeps the news from me, and teaches him puppetry to amuse me as I grow.

I developed into a quiet boy. People did not know so much about me, and I preferred to stay alone, like a shadow. I had no friends.

But when I got home, I would run up to the workshop and start building and tinkering with my puppets. Chiyo watched, but she knew that she could not substitute parental love.

So I construct my puppets. I work hard and spend hours at my table, building parts and joints. But I am trying for only one goal.

After three straight days of hard work, I finally finish the puppets. They are my perfect father and mother. I gaze at them with affection.

_'Thank you for being there…'_

That night I sleep with my parents for the first time.

In the morning, I wake up. I remember something. Never before had anybody ever gave me what they called 'hugs and kisses'. What are those? I wonder. Since I have my father and mother with me now, I might as well try. Using my chakra threads, I mimic the embrace that I have seen parents give to their children.

_It is so comforting… _A soothing sensation comes with the embrace. I allow myself to relax. I feel consoled.

Suddenly I lose concentration. I stop feeding chakra strings to my parents.

They crash down, the wood splintering into little shards.

I stand there. I look down.

My parents were broken. They were just puppets. Nothing more. They could not give me any love.

As a tear slips down my face, I look to the window in a bid not let anybody see my tears. I gaze in wonder.

Snow falls down in flakes outside. I don't run outdoors and gambol in the snow like the other children. I watch from the window, seeing them throw snowballs at each other. When one of them fell, his parents picked him up and continued running.

I feel a deep ache in my heart. Why must it be me whose parents had to die? Why do I feel so lonely? I came to a conclusion.

I realize that I will never be loved.

* * *

The music speeds. I train with increasing ferocity. I try to make myself feel wanted, treasured. But it all fails. I become increasingly cruel. I earn the title of Red Sand in a moment of desperation, where I turn to corpses to provide protection, and ultimately, life. I do not care about whether they are enemy or friends.

Soon after, I take my puppets, and kill the Third Kazekage.

I feel no emotion. But now I wonder why I did that. Was it because I was that devoid of emotion that I killed him in a moment of cruelty?

But I finally know why now.

Even though I maintained an emotionless façade, I still had feelings.

The music is subdued. A part of me was crying out. Not crying for glory, but for love. Everybody respected me, but nobody loved me. I decided to pay them back for letting my parents die in that fatal mission.

Soon after, I join the Akatsuki to further my goals in human puppetry. That was when I felt accepted.

Everyone in the Akatsuki had a past that they wanted forgotten. Although we did not talk much, it was an unspoken bond that we had, a sense of belonging. It was the only time I felt a sense of comradeship. That was the only soft notes of my life.

Finally, I was sent to my home village to capture the One-Tail.

And then I faced Chiyo. You might ask, why did I hesitate?

There are many questions that you might ask me that I ask myself. This is simple.

It was because I wanted my mother and father back.

And I finally realize, as the notes of my life fade, that emotions are a part of you. They cannot be avoided.

But for once, I welcome them. They are in my art. They make my art beautiful.

And due to that, my legacy will be forever eternal.

I accept that.

Outside, snow is falling.

* * *

**Sasori: … Thank you Deidara… And Scorpio…**


End file.
